EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Sept. 11, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE:NOC) Integrated Systems sector has been honored by the March of Dimes for raising more than $117,000 at this year's Los Angeles WalkAmerica fundraising event.
A key sponsor of the nationwide WalkAmerica campaign for healthy babies, Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems received three awards for the fifth straight year: Elite Team, Award of Excellence and Most Creative T-shirt. The honors were announced during the March of Dimes' annual awards ceremony in Los Angeles.
"Northrop Grumman definitely has raised the bar when it comes to corporate sponsorship and truly deserves the recognition for its employees' efforts and contributions," said Barbara Harrison, March of Dimes senior community director.
More than 800 Northrop Grumman employees, family members and friends represented the company in April at the 2003 Los Angeles event at Griffith Park, and thousands more gave monetary donations.
Rhonda Nelson, an employee at Northrop Grumman's facility in Palmdale, Calif., accepted a special recognition award for raising more than $10,000, fourth overall among thousands of walkers at the Los Angeles WalkAmerica event. Nelson, along with her Palmdale teammates, raised approximately $34,000 for March of Dimes.
"We all need to do our part in solving the number-one problem in obstetrics today," said Nelson. "We need to be heroes to the nearly one in eight babies who are born prematurely each year."
Ginger Recanzone, Northrop Grumman March of Dimes coordinator, was also honored for her efforts, receiving one of six Key Team Captain awards.
"Northrop Grumman recognizes the importance of the March of Dimes research, which will save the lives of millions of babies," said Recanzone, who works at the company's El Segundo site. "We could not have raised all these funds without our employees' enthusiasm and hard work."
Nationwide, Integrated Systems employees have raised approximately $275,000 at WalkAmerica events so far in 2003. Employees at the sector's St. Augustine, Fla., and Patuxent River, Md., facilities are participating in local walks later this year.
As the March of Dimes' biggest fundraising activity, WalkAmerica supports lifesaving research and innovative programs that save babies from prematurity, birth defects and other infant health problems. In its six decades of public service, the March of Dimes has helped advance research in polio treatments and vaccines, birth defects, and prenatal and neonatal care.
Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems, headquartered in El Segundo, is a premier aerospace and defense systems integration enterprise. As one of Northrop Grumman Corporation's seven sectors, it designs, develops, produces and supports network-enabled integrated systems and subsystems for U.S. government, civil and international customers. Integrated Systems delivers best-value solutions, products and services that support military missions in the areas of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; battle management command and control; and integrated strike warfare.
Members of the news media may receive our releases via e-mail by registering at: http://www.northropgrumman.com/cgi-bin/regist_form.cgi
LEARN MORE ABOUT US: Northrop Grumman news releases, product information, photos and video clips are available on the Internet at: http://www.northropgrumman.com. Information specific to the Integrated Systems sector is available at: www.is.northropgrumman.com/index.html